The Lemon Index$2,500 middle bill · most between $1,900 and $2,500
Lower than the $3,000 middle bill owners of all 62 models reported.
Owners who gave their mileage: a middle of 114,000 miles (8 reports).
Toyota Highlander owners reported paying a median of $2,500 for a head gasket replacement, with the middle half of bills between $1,900 and $2,500. That's from 8 owner reports (8 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0000%
- $1,000–$2,50038%
- $2,500–$5,00050%
- $5,000 and up12%
Share of the 8 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2003 Toyota Highlander7$2,500 middle bill
- 2004 Toyota Highlander1too few for a middle
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2003 Toyota Highlander33 complaints name it13% of that year's complaints
- 2004 Toyota Highlander8 complaints name it3% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a head gasket. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engines in these years
Engines with a page of their own that this model was sold with in the years above. Owners don't always say which engine they had.
Keep going
- Toyota Highlander reliability by year
- Head gasket replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs Toyota Highlander owners reported
Transmission replacement (67) · ABS module replacement (53) · Brake repair (19) · Engine replacement (19) · Strut and shock replacement (8)
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 10510962, 10507360, 10504113, 10502202, 10368468, 10366566, 10334135, 10296695.
Quick answers
How much does head gasket replacement cost on a Toyota Highlander?
Toyota Highlander owners reported a median of $2,500, and the middle half paid $1,900 to $2,500, from 8 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a Toyota Highlander head gasket replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The Toyota Highlander middle bill of $2,500 is lower than the $3,000 owners of all 62 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these Toyota Highlander repair costs come from?
From 8 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which Toyota Highlander years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2003 (33), 2004 (8) Toyota Highlander named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.